The life of two Snowshoe Cats…

Celebrating 1 Year of Snowshoe Cats

July 31, 2011

First allow me to apologise for how long it has been since a new blog has appeared on Nevada and Noodles’s blog site. I have been enjoying their company so much that I have not managed to find time to help them put their paws to the keyboard. They have kindly given me permission to add a blog from my view-point that will bring you up to date and allow me to describe how wonderful they are.

Let’s start with me introducing myself. I’m Hooma, Noodles and Nevada’s human mother like figure. I work from home at least three days a week, which means that the boys spend, at the most only two days (about 10 hours at a time) on their own. I’m married to their Hoopa who has also fallen well and truly under the spell of these blue-eyed wonders.

Where to start… we’ll do this alphabetically and begin with Nevada.

Nevada is a male blue colour-point snowshoe cat. He is solidly built and we need to watch his weight carefully as he would quite happily spend his whole day troughing food if he was allowed to.

Nevada has a mixed personality and to a casual visitor he probably appears to be a nervous shy cat. When strangers are around, that certainly is what he is… but once he gets to know new hoomans he soon settles down.

From that first moment we let him out of his travel box on 16 July 2010, we knew we would have to work with him to build up his trust. Nevada came out of his box, looked around and then went straight back in. Once he felt confident enough, he promptly ran into the Utility room and managed to get himself behind the tumble dryer! We spent ages kitten proofing the house, yet Nevada managed to jump over the board by the side of the tumble dryer and wedge himself behind it! Hoopa pulled the dryer out and sat on the floor behind it with Nevada and fussed him until he realised we meant him no harm.

Within 24 hours Nevada was happily settled in and he was the first of the two of them to bring a toy to me to throw for them (that was on their second day with us!) Nevada was the first to jump up on the kitchen work-surfaces, first to jump into the fridge and often leads the way for Noodles to go onto naughtier things.

Nevada has a loud voice, which he loves to use! He likes to announce that he is coming over to you for a fuss, that you’re not fussing him enough, that he wants to eat, that he wants to share your food, that he heard a noise, that he has seen a fly, that he wants to come into the bathroom… I think you get the message… Nevada likes to talk!

I have come to the conclusion that you can’t fuss Nevada too much. He never gets tired of having his belly rubbed and will meow at you if your dare to stop before he rolls around for an ear tickle. Nevada has a routine where he walks around the back of you along the sofa, meows loudly in your ear (to let you know he’s on his way), he walks down the sofa arm and then dives and flips onto you lap and finally meowing loudly again (his instruction to rub his belly).

Nevada loves to play with rubbish (trash). He is a bin diver, so much so we have had to shut all bins away from him! He has lots of toys, which he does play with too, but he much prefers a crinkly wrapper and once stolen he will play with it for hours.

To sum Nevada up… he is a loving, friendly, eating machine!

Now to Noodles… Noodles is so different from Nevada you wouldn’t think they were brothers! When Noodles was let out of his travel box he strolled around confidently and climbed up to the top of the big cat tower and announced his arrival.

Noodles loves to be the centre of our attention and when they first became my work companions I thought I would never get any work done again! Noodles’s name soon became ‘Noodles No’ as he chewed through cables, walked on power switches and knocked things over. All to get my attention. He would do something bad and look at me to see if I had noticed… and if I didn’t give him enough recognition for it he would go back to being naughty again!

These days Noodles has settled down more and spends most of the day sleeping in the window while I work. However, this is only after he has gone through his routine of hiding under the mat in the hallway. Noodles will dive under it and call to me. Once I have called to him saying ‘where’s Noodles’ he will run to me, have a fuss and then curl up for a sleep.

Noodles loves to play games one to one, he will play fetch, but only if Nevada is occupied elsewhere. His two favourite games are playing under our legs and jumping for his feathered string toy. He can jump really high, flip over and land on his feet.

Noodles loves his Hoopa and will spend as much time as he can on Hoopa’s shoulders. He will jump from the floor up Hoopa’s back and settle nicely across his shoulders, greeting him with a head rub and an ear nibble. If Hoopa is not in the room that Noodles want to be in, he will bite Hoopa’s ear to direct him to where he wants to go! Hoopa is Noodles’s personal transport!

Noodles also loves to talk, but he has a quieter more gentle voice. He does get a bit noisier at meal times but never as loud as Nevada.

As a pair, they love to play together. They will have mad moments when they will dash around, bouncing off the soft furniture (including us). They will make up their own games throwing toys or trash up in the air and seeing which one of them can catch it. They love to play football with each other and will flick their ping-pong balls across the floor.

Once they have exhausted themselves they will cuddle up together and sleep. They get on with one another really well and we have yet to see them fight (other than when they are playing!) They are the best of friends with each other and with us.

Nevada and Noodles… your Hooma and Hoopa are very proud of you and love every moment with you… even the naughty ones!